We’re just two months away from the first touchscreen MacBook: Here’s what to expect

Touchscreen MacBook: A Major Upgrade for Apple's Notebook Lineup

The release of the first touchscreen MacBook Pro is a significant milestone for Apple's notebook lineup. After over a decade of not adopting touch displays on its Mac notebooks, Apple is finally embracing the technology. The new laptop will feature a Tandem OLED display, which is similar to the iPad Pro's display. This will provide users with an incredible viewing experience, with vibrant colors, strong contrast, and increased brightness.

One of the key features of the new MacBook Pro is its Dynamic Island. This is a smaller version of the Dynamic Island found on the iPhone, and it will provide users with a more intuitive way to interact with their laptop. The Dynamic Island will allow users to easily access various controls and menus, making it easier to navigate the laptop's interface.

In addition to the new display and Dynamic Island, the first touchscreen MacBook Pro will also feature special software optimizations for touch commands. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple will have some special optimizations for the new laptop, beyond what's already visible in the betas of macOS 27. For instance, if users touch a button or control, the interface will bring up a new type of menu surrounding their finger that provides more relevant options for touch commands. The software will also display the most appropriate set of controls based on users' prior interaction. And if a person taps an item in the menu bar at the top of the screen, the set of controls will enlarge to be more easily selectable with a finger.

The first touchscreen MacBook Pro will be released in October, alongside the next MacBook Pro redesign. It will come in at steeper price points due to Apple's June price hikes from the memory crisis, so I'd expect at least $2499 for the 14-inch and $2999 for the 16-inch. Are you excited for the touchscreen MacBook? Will you be buying one at launch, or holding out for the cheaper base model 14-inch? Let us know in the comments.

M5 Pro and M5 Max Chips

Despite initial reporting suggesting that we'll be seeing the debut of the M6 Pro and Max in the redesigned MacBook Pro, Apple is now skipping the release of those chips to accelerate the M7. This means that the first iteration of 2nm chips won't be making their way to the redesigned MacBook Pros, and they'll instead offer the existing M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. There won't be a base model version of this computer quite yet, though rumors suggest that Apple will be launching a base version of the redesigned MacBook Pro with an M7 chip as early as next spring.

Slightly Thinner Chassis

One design rumor for the new MacBook Pro is the fact that it'll be slightly slimmer and lighter – though it's unclear how meaningful this will be. The last MacBook Pro iteration made the computers look and feel quite chunky, so a bit of progress here would likely be welcome – so long as it doesn't come at the compromise of thermals.

Wrap Up

All in all, the first touchscreen MacBook Pro is shaping up to be an exciting upgrade. It will come in at steeper price points due to Apple's June price hikes from the memory crisis, so I'd expect at least $2499 for the 14-inch and $2999 for the 16-inch. Are you excited for the touchscreen MacBook? Will you be buying one at launch, or holding out for the cheaper base model 14-inch? Let us know in the comments.